The Good News of Christ the King: Why Gay Catholics Should Celebrate Today’s Solemnity
Today is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the celebration feels a little pointed this year.
Allison Connelly-Vetter (she/her) earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in disability theology. She currently serves as the Interim Director for Children, Youth, & Family Ministries at a large congregation in Minneapolis, MN. She is on the Executive Team of the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries Board and is the Board Secretary for Benincasa Community. Allison's writing can be found in US Catholic, the Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health, and Disability, and Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church Cycle B (Orbis Books, 2023).
Today is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and the celebration feels a little pointed this year.
We knew that getting married as two gay, Catholic women in the deeply red state of South Dakota, especially when we were determined to have a Catholic liturgy, would be complicated. That is why, despite vastly different contexts, I see myself in today’s parable when it comes to my gay, Catholic wedding during COVID-19.
Today’s liturgical readings prompted me to think about restorative justice, and the implications it could have for LGBTQ people and the Catholic Church.
Today, I find that hope, reassurance, and sustenance in the dogma of the Assumption. I truly believe that as a Church and as a people, we need the Assumption today more than ever.
“Today is Trinity Sunday and the first Sunday of Pride month. What an opportune day then to reflect on my own Trinitarian identity as one person who is at once queer, Catholic, and white.”
I have to admit, I felt like the Easter Grinch during the last few weeks of Lent, convinced that with all the pain and suffering in the world right now, Christ would stay in the tomb this time. After reflecting on today’s Gospel story of the Emmaus encounter, it brings me comfort to wonder if the disciples felt the same way that I feel now.
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